As a method of molding a glass optical element, for example, there is a method in which an optical element is obtained by dropping a predetermined weight of molten glass, holding the dropped molten glass drop at a lower mold, and pressing the molten glass drop between molds without reheating (refer to Patent Literature 1).
However, in the method as described in Patent Literature 1, when the molten glass drop is dropped in the vicinity of the center of an optical surface transferring surface and a mold having a plurality of optical surface transferring surfaces is used in order to mold a plurality of optical elements, there is a possibility that the optical element with a satisfactory shape accuracy may not be obtained. That is, in a case of the mold having the plurality of optical surface transferring surfaces, for example, the molten glass is not dropped onto a specific optical surface transferring surface but dropped onto a proper position other than the optical surface transferring surface. In this case, there is a possibility that an area is generated where the flow of glass does not come into contact with the optical surface transferring surface due to the relationship between the flow rate and viscosity of the glass. Therefore, transferring the optical surface transferring surface becomes incomplete and thus it is difficult to manufacture a molded glass product including the plurality of optical elements with a high accuracy.